All signs points towards Germany making Britain's Brexit talks as difficult as possible

German
Chancellor Angela Merkel looks back during the EU leaders meeting
on the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, in Rome, Italy
March 25, 2017.Reuters

LONDON – All signs are pointing towards Germany making Brexit
talks difficult for Britain, just as it is about to trigger
Article 50 and thereby starting the formal two-year negotiation
process for the UK leaving the European Union.

The UK will have to pay the entire £50 billion
(€57.3 billion) Brexit divorce bill or face being
sued.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is set to trigger
Article 50 on Wednesday and thereby start the formal two-year
Brexit negotiation process.

May is taking Britain towards a "Hard Brexit" — shorthand
for Britain leaving the European Union without access to the
Single Market in exchange for having full control over
immigration into the country.

Germany's finance minister
Wolfgang Schäuble in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s close ally
and said "we have no interest in punishing the UK, but we
also have no interest in putting European integration in danger
over the UK. That’s why our priority must be, with a heavy heart,
to keep the rest of Europe — without the UK — as close together
as possible."

That’s why our priority must be, with a heavy heart, to keep the
rest of Europe — without the UK — as close together as possible.

Meanwhile, UK politicians that support Brexit are
pushing Chancellor Philip Hammond to cap the amount Britain will
pay in its Brexit divorce settlement to just over 5% of what the
EU is angling for.

MPs are demanding Hammond get a divorce deal that will only cost
Britain £3 billion. This is tiny compared to the nearly £50
billion that Britain is expected to pay, according to the
EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

The German finance ministry said in a statement to the FT: "Any
Article 50 agreement will have to include the UK’s assurances
that it will honour the financial commitments it undertook as an
EU member state."

Meanwhile, Norbert Spinrath, Brexit spokesman for Mr Schulz’s
Social Democrats, also told the paper: "We expect the British to
do the honourable thing. If they don’t, the EU can take them to
the international courts."

So Britain trying to cut the total amount down in divorce
payments looks unlikely.

Actually, overall, upcoming Brexit talks is probably best summed
up by the CDU’s parliamentary Brexit spokesman:
"We all see it’s going to be difficult. It would be a
miracle if we got a good result."